Jose Ramirez’s contract keeps him under the Indians’ control through the 2023 season, but Cleveland “would love to” work out another extension with the star third baseman, according to ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan. To date, Ramirez “has resisted” the team’s overtures.
It isn’t exactly unusual that a club would have interest in keeping its star player, and it could be that Cleveland is simply doing its due diligence in checking to see if Ramirez would be willing to re-up for an even long-term commitment. Still, such a move is noteworthy in the Tribe’s case given how the team has been focusing on moving salaries in recent years, and that strategy has only intensified in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Since August, the team has traded Mike Clevinger, Carlos Carrasco and Francisco Lindor, declined to pick up Carlos Santana’s $17.5MM option for 2021, and put star closer Brad Hand on waivers last October just to try and avoid a $1MM buyout of Hand’s $10MM club option.
Dating back to John Hart’s days as the Indians’ GM, the club’s strategy for extensions has followed a pattern. The Tribe looks to sign promising younger players to long-term deals early in their career, so Cleveland can lengthen its team control over at least a year or two (whether on guaranteed years or club options) beyond a player’s arbitration-eligible seasons. If that young player indeed ends up blossoming into a star, the Tribe ends up with a bargain through the player’s prime years, and then the player usually ends up either traded or departing in free agency once their team control draws to a close.
While Cleveland has signed a few notable names (i.e. C.C. Sabathia, Travis Hafner, and more recently, Carrasco) to secondary extensions after those initial deals, it would be a significantly bigger financial decision to ink Ramirez to another contract given how he has so firmly established himself as one of the game’s top players. Since the start of the 2016 season, Ramirez has hit .290/.366/.529 with 119 home runs in 2757 plate appearances, and only three players (Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Anthony Rendon) have amassed more fWAR than Ramirez’s 26.2 figure over that five-year stretch. Ramirez has three top-3 finishes in AL MVP voting within the last four seasons, finishing second to Jose Abreu in 2020.
Prior to the 2017 season, Ramirez signed a five-year extension worth $26MM in guaranteed money. He is entering the final guaranteed year of that deal now, though the Tribe has both a $11MM club option ($2MM buyout) on Ramirez for 2022 and a $13MM club option (with no buyout) for the 2023 season. Ramirez turned 28 last September, so assuming Cleveland picks up both options, Ramirez wouldn’t reach free agency until his age-31 season.
With all of the Tribe’s cost-cutting over the winter, there was speculation that Ramirez could also be moved, though Cleveland isn’t yet interested in a full rebuild, adding the likes of Eddie Rosario and Cesar Hernandez to one-year contracts to make another run at a postseason berth. However, the Indians have less than $53MM on the books for the 2021 payroll, and Cleveland doesn’t have a single player officially under contract beyond the 2021 season. Unless the team does go into complete rebuild mode, some of that open payroll space is surely earmarked for future extensions of its next wave of young talent — chief among them Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber, though as of last month, the two sides had yet to begin negotiations.
While owner Paul Dolan and Cleveland’s front office have often discussed how a smaller-market team shouldn’t devote much of its payroll to a single player, there is theoretically enough payroll room available to pay Ramirez a superstar-level salary ($30MM+ in average annual value). The Indians reportedly offered Lindor a $200MM extension prior to the 2020 season, and while that offer came before the pandemic changed everything, it indicates that the team is willing to make a big splash to retain a star.
When did Dombrowski take over as their GM?
I don’t get it.
Me either. If anything they have been the complete opposite of Dombrowski…
Maybe he likes Cleveland (lol) or the security of having an extension in hand, but I can’t imagine a lot of elite players are lining up to spend the bulk of their career playing for a team that isn’t committed to winning.
@ PitcherMeRolling;
Actually lightweight, from everything I’ve read he does like Cleveland. Has lots of ties to the community. And the players love the organization – ever hear an ex-Indian player complain about his time there since Francona got there? (I’ve heard some ask why the organizations they’re now with are not like Cleveland’s).
Last year they squared away Cesar Hernandez – messed up by a terrible Phillies manager and inept FO. This year they’ll get Amed Rosario on the right path. While I doubt he’ll be a star, he will become a productive team player – which he never was with the screwy Mets.
I remember when Manny went to the Red Sox from Cleveland. In Spring Training he was calling manager Mike Hargrove for help, asking if he could get back to the Indians. And he and his family couldn’t stand living in Boston.
Lightweight is the Cleveland lineup.
LOL nice
Cleveland competes for a division title every year. This is either management seeing the next window and spending now or optics for the fan base to say we tried. Twins are always competitive and the Tigers have some kids on the horizon and some contracts falling off in the next couple of years. Hopefully, this is Cleveland spending to stay relevant.
And the White Sox are pretty good too
Edge,
Twins are always competitive? N-o-o, they are not.. A few years from now they will be in the cellar again, like KC is now. And they will live in the cellar for a decade.
KC will not be in the cellar this year. They have improved. Maybe a stretch to say 81-81 but they will win 75. Ramirez is a franchise player and already knows with free agency at 31 he won’t see a 10 year Pujols deal. I bet an extension gets done. At the end of a career a title is nice however the green is what players look for. BTW Cleveland wins more that it loses and was in a recent WS with Ramirez. Like the Rays they find a way to win while spending less than most. A good organization. Anyone that thinks different about the tribe is wrong. They will be in the hunt again this year. Twins also have an excellent reputation of developing players and stressing fundamental baseball. All being said White Sox look like the class of the division for the next few years minimum.
Jose Ramirez is a stud! I’ve never heard anyone say I’m going to Cleveland on vacation, but I would love to get out to Jacobs field for a game… I DO think that would be cool
Cesar Hernandez performed just fine in Philly. They just didn’t feel that he was worth upwards of $10 million for a single season and they were correct.
@samuel It’s funny that you typed all that without stopping to think if it’s pertinent.
I like how it’s not “pertinent” bc it shreds your entire narrative. Great logic, said nobody… ever…
Since the start of 2013, the Cleveland Indians have won more games than every other team except for the Dodgers. Small market teams have to operate differently since they do not have the same revenue streams that the large market teams have.
False
Both items that I stated are very true. The Indians have won more games since the start of 2013 than every team except the Dodgers. Look it up.
Second, one aspect of revenue that is very different is the team’s local TV revenue. The Dodgers, Yankees, and other large markets have much larger revenue. According to Fangraphs, in 2020, the Dodgers received $239M from their local TV contracts. where the Indians received $47M and a team like the Marlins at $20M. Those numbers are not equal and affect a team’s bottom line.
hockeyjohn (Sparrowhawk) – cubswin108 may have been replying to Edge0’s comment that the White Sox are pretty good. I’m not sure, but it might have been a North Sider talking smack with a South Sider.
Regarding your comment, since 2013, wins are:
LAD – 714
CLE – 673
NYY – 667
STL – 665
BOS – 648
CHC – 645
I might have missed a team in the top six (I checked several others), but I can’t see any team I missed cracking the top two.
@hockeyJohn. That’s neat, it just doesn’t have anything to do with what I said.
Why wouldn’t the Indians be interested in giving J-RAM an extension?
For a team that isn’t “committed to winning,” they do an awful lot of winning. They had World Series caliber rosters from 2016-2019 and were so close to a title in 2016. Just because they don’t spend huge money doesn’t mean they aren’t committed to winning. They didn’t lose in 2016 because they didn’t spend enough money. Frankly, they choked a 3-1 lead.
I assume the perception that the Indians aren’t committed to winning is due to the fact that they have traded a lot of the key players that made them competitive for those seasons. Before people make the wrong assumption, I am not commenting on whether that perception is accurate or not, but I would be surprised if a player of Ramirez’s caliber would prefer to sign an extension with Cleveland over testing free agency.
Chief 2 Hands is 100% right
Cleveland fans are SO touchy my word
And they started trading the core of that team once they got a little bit expensive.
Interesting statement. If you check their win/loss record since he came on to the stage they have one of the best winning percentages in all of baseball.
Just sounds like they seeing if they can keep him longer on another team friendly deal or preparing to trade him soon if not.
This. They’ll explore it this year if they can get a huge discount, which he’d be wise to resist. Next offseason he’ll be on the block then.
Obie, Corby, etc, is that you?
Yes, he should be gone by mid-season. Their top prospect is a 3B.
Braves are the perfect fit for him. He could be the missing link to the WS.
In turn, the Indians could use a few more young pitchers to work with. Maybe a minor league OF like Waters. Braves have Kyle Wright going in circles, My guess is that the Indians pitching people would love to work with him.
Next offseason or at next years trade deadline he will be with a new team.
dolan: best we can do is 3 mil over 3 years
Lol
An extension does increase his trade value
Hard to believe he’ll be too ecstatic when it comes to signing an extension. He’d make a ton more on the open market. That deal he’s currently on is pretty awful for him though, so maybe he’d sign away an FA year or two if they increased the amount on those option years.
Get out while you can, Dolan’s aren’t committed to winning.
Yet the team continues to win. Do some research and check for the best records over the last 5 seasons.
Here’s some research:
Championships over the last 5 seasons:
Cleveland – 0
This is a stupid comment. You can say the same thing for 23 other teams.
Most of his comments spew idiocy
⬆️ what he said… I’d rather win a championship then be a wild card playoff team for 10 years. They might’ve made the playoffs every year over the last 5 seasons, but look who is on our roster that is the same since the 2016 World Series. They came close once in the last 20 years but that only counts in horseshoes and grenades.
Another stupid comment. The 2016 Cubs have three players from their team remaining, Indians have two.
And the Cubs are in the same boat, except they have a WS Banner at Wrigley Field…if these players we got in the Lindor trade become great, the Indians ( or whatever they will be called) will trade them because they don’t want to pay them. The cycle continues…
This is model they think keeps them successful. It has set them up pretty well over the next few years. Identify and draft/trade for controllable talent that have high floors. Once they get close to large salaries they flip them for more talent. I don’t understand why people think one player is going to win a championship. If you I think about the trades of Bauer, Clevenger and Lindor and their return you now have a young team who’s core is controlled for at least three more years and you’re not paying 100 + million for four players. In an economic standpoint it doesn’t make sense. Why would you pay one to two players huge contract that do not pay off in the age 37-40 years and hamstring what and who you can pick trade and sign? It’s old thinking. The era of signing players to longevity contracts is dying out and more teams are starting to figure this out.
The Dolan’s continually complain about attendance to games. I’m sorry, the guys they got in the Lindor trade aren’t going to draw people to the stadium.
I just want a championship and what they’ve been doing has not produced one. Yeah, have they won 90+ games /season over the past five years, but our division is one of the worst in the league. What is our record against Detroit over the past 5 years, 59-17.
We need an owner who wants a baseball team as a hobby like Gilbert and Haslem.
Even when they put money into the eh team and sign encarnacion, attendance still was one of the lowest in the league. Keeping Lindor will not draw more fans (he didn’t when he was here) and one player will not win you a championship.
Dolans to Lindor: GTFOH
Dolans to Ramirez: Hey bae… sup
Rangers29: The Indians rcvd Andres Gimenez for the next handful of yrs to play SS as part of the Lindor walk year deal. Not to mention Amed Rosario for the next 3-4 yrs as well. As for Carlos Carrasco going to the Mets, the Indians rcvd the Mets ’19 AND ’20 2nd Rd picks (RHP Josh Wolf) (OF Isaiah Greene). Both of them were drafted out of high school so they’re far away from the Majors but the upside is definitely there. The Indians also have more young pitching coming up as well. So they traded from a strength and getting pieces for now and (probably/hopefully) their future.
The Indians are a team built on pitching. They want their position players to play decent defense to support their pitchers. Not necessarily gold glovers at all positions, but fairly reliable gloves and arms along with good fundamentals.
The 2 positions pitchers depend on most for support are Catcher and SS. Perez won the platinum glove for best AL defender in 2019, and he calls an excellent game. He could hit .100 / .150 / .200 / .250 and he’d be extremely valuable. As for SS, there is no way in the world the Indians were going to turn that over to Amad Rosario. Gimenez was the guy they wanted. Sure hands, Smart ballplayer. 22 years-old – he can be there for years.
The Indians have been rebuilding on the fly the last 2 years. They’ll need a big run producing bat for the stretch run this year if they’re in contention and Ramirez is traded. Their history is to leave enough money in the budget to acquire a name veteran bat that is having a good season from a team out of contention that’s looking to save some money – in turn the Indians only pay a 2 month salary.
You still need to hit something. The Indians lineup is really bad. Jose Ramirez, Eddie Rosario, Franny Reyes, and Cesar Hernandez could easily be the only guys who bat above league average.
And I’d say that the only lock for that is Ramirez. That’s an ugly lineup. You never count the Indians out but you can only lose so much for so long. Cookie, Cleve, Bauer, and Lindor is tough to replace. Mckenzie has potential and Bieber + Plesac are still there but they don’t have the same roster they’ve had in years past.
Eventually the drain sucks you down it. This looks like a down year for Cleveland.
TRIGGERED
Oh btw, Jose Ramirez > Francisco Lindor
That’s a bold take. I’d have to disagree. Ramirez is outstanding, don’t get me wrong. If I can get 30+ HRs from my SS though, he’s more valuable.
WaR says Ramirez is better, numbers say Ramirez is better.
MikeD26 – When you say WAR and numbers both say Ramirez is better, what is the difference? WAR is a number.
WAR, what is it good for?
Finished top 3, 3 times over the last 4 years, lindor?
The # of power-hitting SS vs 3B league wide probably leans toward SS currently.
Shortstop is the more valuable defensive position though, so I’m not sure. Plus, J-Ram tends to look a little puffy to me, and I’d be a little bit concerned how he will age.
Not sure I agree with this. I would take Arrenado over Lindor every time.
Indians should trade him while his value is insanely high. They are sorta in a competitive rebuild anyways, so this makes a lot of sense. Lock up players when your roster is loaded
And which team would you suggest they trade him to, braves fan… ;-)
With or without being biased?
I can’t think of a MVP candidate who has three years of control left getting traded. I think he goes next offseason or at next years trade deadline for a good haul.
If they extend Ramirez they might want to load up the lineup and bring up Jones, wherever he’s going to play. Lineup leaves a lot to be desired. The Indians are fortunate to play in the small AL Central pond.
Extend him to Atlanta?
How does tacking on 5 years/$175 million sound from 2024-28?
Sounds like more than Cleveland would be willing to spend.
Better choice to spend on him than it would have been on Lindor. Plus, with all their young and inexpensive talent knocking on the door, they can afford to extend him and Bieber, and build around them.
Fool me once
And so begins the process of trading
…of trading Ramirez. First leak out a story about extending him, sometime in the near future report negotiations are not proceeding well, then he’s traded.
cleveland should listen to pirates trade him for low A prospects and maintain payroll flexibility
Yeah, because look how well run they have been. Not a team I would emulate although I do live some of their kids coming – Ke’Bryan is going to be a star imo
* love *
I can’t believe this guy is only 28. I feel like he’s been playing 15 years.
And especially that 2021 is going to be his 9th season in the majors.
It will never happen. Name the last star the Indians extended……crickets….still waiting……crickets….then breaking into insane laughter. You should all realize the Indians have ZERO long term contracts after this year. The Progressive Field lease is up after 2023. The Indians as a name (canceled culture) are finished after this year. They really have a better chance of relocating the franchise than re-signing Ramirez.
They may want to resign Ramirez but the real question is why would he want to stay in Cleveland
To be on a team that makes the playoffs every year.
The only major player I can think of that the Rays extended for years was Evan Longoria……and it was amazing that they got out of that one.
How do the Rays and the Indians keep contending? Weren’t the Rays in the WS last year?
Rays contend because they are a good organization with no money.
Indians contend because they play in one of the weakest division in sports. A division that has struggled to reach the LCS in 5 years. And the Indians are trending in the wrong direction.
Jose Ramirez, Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber have all signed extensions recently. This one is a little different but still not implausible.
Albert Bell?
Oh, this would be awesome! Always thought this man was way more valuable than Lindor. Perfect guy to keep around. He’s like a mini Manny Ramirez.
When Cleveland finds out J-Ram wants that extension to pay him more than the league minimum per year they’ll get real uninterested real quick
The Indians always seem to have interest in signing their players long term until they realize that requires actually spending money. It’ll be the same situation with Bieber in a couple years
Golly,
Thanks for the Bieber comment. I’m sure no one in the Indians FO or an Indians fan ever thought of that.
WOW!
If they don’t read your comment the Bieber situation will probably sneak up on them.
Who knew? Huh.
Jey Ronk325l
I’ll bet those dumb fans in Tampa Bay and the morons in the Rays front office haven’t given a thought to the possibility that if Wander Franco becomes the player everyone expects him to, he won’t play his encore career in Tampa Bay with the Rays!!
That was probably the worst attempt at sarcasm I’ve ever seen. Sorry that my comment struck a nerve. I was just simply pointing out the obvious in that the Indians don’t pay their stars and Ramirez is likely on the move soon and Bieber probably won’t be very far behind. I also have no idea how the Rays and Franco factor into this. He hasn’t even debuted yet so the Rays have a while before they have to worry about him
Pretty clearly a PR leak both to justify shopping him and leverage trade value. “We tried guys! Rebuild time!” “That’s not gonna be enough of a return we’ll extend him you watch!”
I find it interesting when these possible motivations aren’t included in stories…I guess folks have to play the game to keep their contacts?
Yeah f********* right. Nice try Dolan.
So Jose, would you like to sign another team friendly extension or go to free agency and get more money? 200 million to Lindor is more of a insult to him and his agent’s intelligence. I wouldn’t call that a offer. I guess it’s like the offers you get in a fantasy league or proposed offers you see on here.
The worst contract in baseball (from a player’s perspective). Whichever agent signed off on this deal has no business in baseball and the player’s union should have step up before this deal was signed. Ramirez is massively underpaid given his production and is still under potential team control for another 2 seasons. Unbelievable!
He signed it in 2015 and if you’re in his shoes he was never a top prospect and up to that date he had one mediocre year. He was thinking long-term. It makes sense if you look at it at that time. In 2016 they brought in Juan Uribe and Ramirez listened to him and it change his approach at the plate. 2016 was an explosion. Ramirez has said this several times that if it wasn’t for Uribe, he wouldn’t be where he is. I think the Indians thought he would be good, but never at this level.
They already have a great name!!!!! Long live Chief Wahoo!!!
i stop watching if and when Ramirez leaves, pinky swear
i stopped caring about indians baseball in early 2000s & the dealbreaker was when Thome left. didn’t pay attention when Sizemore was good for about 30 seconds lol. Thank god i wasn’t locked in when 2007 ALCS happened lol..
i didn’t start caring again til 2014. heard about some pitcher Kluber & began mostly watching his starts.
Then 2016 happened! some short & sorta chubby guy Jose Ramirez i never heard of before stuck out like a soar thumb lol.
Watching him run those bases is inspirational bro. i don’t even need to hear him speak to realize & understand he LOVES baseball & absolutely LOVES playing it. i love me some JOSE RAMIREZ!!! 2021 MVP C’MON
Long live Chief Wahoo!
The article clearly states the desire to EXTEND Ramirez, and yet, people sniff that out as “he’ll surely be traded”. Yikes. LOLOLOL